Statement By The Premier Of The Northern Cape, Ms Sylvia Lucs On The Provincial Audit Outcomes Of The 2012/2013 Financial Year

The Northern Cape Provincial Government is committed to delivering high standards of services to the people of the province in a professional and accountable manner. In 2012 we made a commitment to the people of the province to improve on audit outcomes to demonstrate our seriousness on accountability after only 40% of departments received unqualified audit opinions.

To this end, the Provincial Auditor General has completed the annual audit of all Provincial Departments and has expressed an opinion on each provincial department. An audit opinion differs from disclaimer of audit opinion to qualified and unqualified audit opinions.

Indeed we have made strides and we can proudly announce today that the Province has received 9 unqualified audit opinions for the 2012/13 financial year, which represents 70% of the total number of Provincial Departments. The unqualified audit reports mean that the Auditor General was satisfied with the manner in which the financial affairs of the departments were handled and how they were reported or disclosed in the financial statements as at 31 March 2013.

Audit outcomes

Five departments improved from being qualified to unqualified audit opinions namely: Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development; Economic Development and Tourism and Roads and Public Works and Transport, Safety and liaison. This achievement clearly indicates that these four departments that used to achieve unqualified audit outcomes in the past and regressed in the previous financial year, put an extra effort into improving financial management in general.

The following ones that have maintained the unqualified audit opinions are Provincial Treasury; Office of the Premier, Environment & Nature Conservation, Social Development and Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements & Traditional Affairs. Social Development received an unqualified report with no findings. It is the first department to enter the clean audit circle.

I’m also pleased to announce to you that the Department Of Health that has been disclaimed for the past 10 years improved and has received a qualified audit opinion. This is a major improvement worth mentioning. However, our goal for the department of Health like all other departments is an unqualified audit opinion. The 2012/13 outcomes are satisfactory and something to boast about is the fact that no Provincial department has received a disclaimer opinion and that is a significant move towards having a clean administration.

The improvements can be attributed to the following:

Stability at the head of department level;

Improved monitoring and oversight of departments

Commitment by the accounting officers and most importantly by the financial management officials in departments and

Improved governance arrangement.

We have been plagued in the past by the ineffective governance structures and we committed to comply as the province, and that we did. There were no findings on internal audit and audit committees. The committees are functional and very effective.

2012/13 Provincial Entities Audit Outcomes

Of the 14 entities in the province, three improved whilst two regressed. Four entities received unqualified audit reports, 5 were qualified and 1 disclaimed. Three still need to submit their AFS to the office of the AG for purposes of auditing.

On the overall there was significant improvement with the key controls in the province as the tone was set from the top. The captains of the ships were in control and they have steered the province in the right direction and hence we can stand here boldly today and announce these audit improvements to the Northern Cape public.

Managing the financial affairs of provincial entities is not a daunting task compared to that of a provincial department. However, entities continue to fall short of our expectation and that of the general public when it comes to financial management. Those entities that have received qualified audit opinions including disclaimer, will have to answer difficult questions as we prepare for the final drive for Operation Clean Audit 2014.

Conclusion

In conclusion to the latter, I would like to assure the public that we will be soaring together with heart and soul towards financial management excellence with full commitment and one accord to ever greater heights in financial management and the spirit and letter of the Public Finance Management Act.